Research PICO and what is it Patientpopulation Describe

Research

PICO and what is it? • Patient-population: Describe your patient or the problem • Intervention: Treatment, cause • Comparison/control: Compared to another treatment or standard of care • Outcomes: improvements

What is the purpose of it • A mnemonic to help formulate a clinical question and search strategy by identifying key concepts

Example of PICO • You have a patient who has difficulty exercising due to COPD and you wonder if pursed lip breathing techniques may improve their endurance • P: Patients with COPD • I: pursed lip breathing • C: regular breathing • O: improved exercise endurance

Example 2 • You are working with a recent stroke patient who is having balance issues and you are considering using virtual reality in their therapy • P: Recent stroke, balance issues • I: virtual reality • C: no virtual reality • O: improved balance

Hierarchy of Evidence • 1. ) Meta-analysis • Several studies that use randomized controlled trials are selected and statistically analyzed to compare and contrast the results of the studies • 2. )Randomized Controlled trial • A group of subject who are randomly selected for the study are split into a trial group and control group. • 3. ) Longitudinal Study • A variable is observed repeatedly over a long time often years • 4. ) Case Control Study • An observational study where two groups of people with a specific medical condition and one without the condition, are compared to determine factors that may contribute to or affect the medical condition • 5. ) Case Study • A single person, group of people or specific event that is studied analyzed • 6. ) Expert Opinion • A person with expertise in a particular subject relays their knowledge about that subject

Independent Variable vs. Dependent Variable • Independent variable • A variable that is not affected by other variables • Dependent variable • Variable that changes over the course of the research study

More fundamental terms • Validity • The extent to which an assessment tool measures what it is supposed to measure • Reliability • The ability to duplicate the results of an assessment • Inter-rater reliability • The determination of how well an assessment tool achieves the same results if two different raters administer the tool • Measured 0 to 1. 0 • Closer to 1. 0 indicates stronger inter-rater reliability • Intra-rater reliability • The degree of agreement among repeated administrations of a diagnostic test performed by a single rater